MOLLY, McCULLOUGH, AND TOM THE ROGUE

A brisk enough tale of ""a rogue named Tom Devlin who made his living by his wits, and this was the way of it."" Tom would travel to a new spot, talk a rich farmer into selling him a piece of his land, then as if by accident drop a map that purported to mark buried treausre on that very land. The farmer, demanding his money back, would throw in something extra for a sweetener; and that extra was Tom's living. Tom meets his match, however, in dour farmer McCullough's homely, sharp-tongued daughter, who substitutes rocks and straw for the cabbages McCullough has grudgingly provided--then throws herself into the bargain. Both the business and the folk-like narration are a bit contrived, but nimbly so; and though the pictures are workaday Zemach, that's roguish enough for the tale. An option where the funds still flow for well-turned but uninspired variations on familiar motifs.